Funerary cult

Rituals were carried on for the benefit of the dead, either by their relatives or by a class of priests appointed and paid to perform the rites.

Scholar Miranda Bayliss had stated the function of this cult was to alleviate guilt and other tensions from the death of the deceased and form solidarity and continuity within the family.

When ancestors beyond the individual's grandparents were venerated, it was done at large gatherings of extended kin groups.

Mortals sacrificed livestock and plants at Heroes' tombs to intervene and commune with the Gods on their behalf.

[5] The Samnites and Etruscans of the Italian peninsula painted the underworld deities Aita, Vanth, Phersipnei, and Letham on the walls of tombs.

Dionysus, (along with being lord of wine and parties) had been reborn many times and had rescued his mother Semele from the Underworld (the Roman afterlife, ruled by Hades).

He was occasionally depicted in conjunction with other Gods (representatives of rebirth or plants of some kind) to indicate the dead also participated in the rejuvenation of the seasons.